Lok Sabha polls: 43 percent polling in 2nd phase in Maharashtra till 3 pm

In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Friday eight constituencies in Maharashtra recorded voter turnout of 4301 percent until 3 pm according to officials reported the PTIThe voting in the central Marathwada regions Hingoli Nanded and Parbhani constituencies as well as the Vidarbha eastern Maharashtra seats of Akola Amravati Buldhana Wardha and YavatmalWashim began at 7 am and will end at 6 pmWardha recorded 4595 percent turnout Akola 4269 percent Amravati 4376 percent Buldhana 4166 percent Hingoli 405 percent Nanded 4242 percent Parbhani 4449 percent and YavatmalWashim 4255 percent election officials said as per the PTIFormer chief minister Ashok Chavan who recently switched over from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP voted along with his family members in the initial hours in Maharashtras Nanded districtAs many as 149 crore voters 7721374 men 7204106 women and 432 persons from third gender category are eligible to cast ballots across 16589 polling centresThere are a total of 204 candidates in the fray 21 in Buldhana 15 in Akola 37 in Amravati 24 in Wardha 17 in YavatmalWashim 33 in Hingoli 23 in Nanded and 34 in ParbhaniOn April 19 five seats in eastern VidarbhaNagpur Ramtek Chandrapur BhandaraGondia and GadchiroliChimur went to polls registering a voter turnout of 6370 per cent according to the PTIBuldhana YavatmalWashim and Hingoli are seeing a direct contest between the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena UBTThe undivided Shiv Sena contested the last general elections in the state in alliance with the BJP It split in 2022 after Shinde led a rebellion toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government and joined hands with the BJP to become the CMIn Buldhana sitting Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav is pitted against Narendra Khedekar of Sena UBTThe Shiv Sena has nominated Rajashri Patil in YavatmalWashim dropping sitting MP Bhavana Gawli Patil is pitted against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Uddhav Thackerayled partyIn Hingoli Rajashtri Patils husband and sitting MP Hemant Patil was replaced by the Shiv Sena which gave the ticket to Baburao Kohalikar The Sena nominee is contesting against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of Shiv Sena UBTIn Parbhani Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha is contesting against MP Sanjay Jadhav nominated by the Shiv Sena UBTMahadev Jankar has been backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance comprising BJP CM Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawarled Nationalist Congress Party NCPDr B R Ambedkars grandson Prakash Ambedkar who heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi VBA has fielded candidates in seven seats including himself from AkolaHis brother Anandraj Ambedkar is in the fray in Amravati as a Republican Sena nomineeIn Akola the contest is between Anup Dhotre of BJP and Abhay Patil of Congress with Prakash Ambedkar as the third candidateAmravati is seeing a battle between MP Navneet Rana now contesting as a BJP nominee against Balwant Wankhede of Congress Dinesh Bub is the Prahar Janshakti Party candidate The Prahar party which has two legislators in the assembly is an ally of the ruling coalitionIn Wardha there is a fight between former Congress MLA Amar Kale contesting on the symbol of the NCP Sharadchandra Pawar a man blowing turha a traditional trumpet against BJP MP Ramdas TadasIn Nanded BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar is pitted against Congress nominee Vasant Chavanwith PTI inputs